Lionel Shriver

And I like plot.

Unlike most literary writers, I like plot.

And I follow what happens to my nieces and nephews.

My younger brother has four kids.

And with real eagerness, you know, as if I'm getting back to a novel that I'm in the middle of, but one that someone else is writing.

And it's just more story.

And not all the story is good, but it's the stuff, you know.

It's more life.

And that aspect of my brother's life, I'm actually...

you know envious of um so my life is now too simple and people keep dying and if my husband dies i will be very by myself you know if there's i have some friends uh and i still have my brother but the family's getting littler on my side and and it's

It's kind of shocking, you know, when you realize your friends start dying.

I've lost any number of friends already.

I did not grow a crop of

That's right.

And you're not investing in everyone else's future.

You're not investing in a future that you will not experience.

Having children is an act of generosity in every sense.

And one of the things that's changed, I never was disapproving of people who had children, but I'm now actively approving of people who have children.

I admire people who have children.

Those who say, oh, climate change, I'm not going to have any.